For the first time since Hurricane Sandy hit on Oct. 29, the members of the Staten Island Rockets will have a reason to wear their red basketball jerseys again.

The severely damaged Fastbreak Basketball Center in Richmond Valley re-opened last Thursday. And that means the Rockets, a group of 40 autistic children aged 6 through 17 directed by Christine and John Dunn, will once again have someplace to play for an hour come Friday at 10:30 a.m.

"We're all so excited," Christine Dunn said. "A lot of the kids, it's hard to explain about these things. The kids are so used to going there every Friday, they'd put on their jerseys and walk around all day in them. They didn't understand why they weren't going. They've been really missing it."

They weren't the only ones. From the youth and adult basketball leagues, to the pick-up groups from Costco and the Port Authority police, to the gymnastics, volleyball, and soccer programs, and the birthday parties the six-year-old facility welcomes weekly, the closing of Fast Break's doors created a period of uncertainty for its extensive list of clientele.

Would it re-open after Sandy's rains and groundswell ruined Fastbreak's two regulation-size basketball courts? Was the expense of refurbishing and re-opening even worth it for co-owners Joe O'Toole, Lori Ceciliani, and Tommy Burns?

If anyone had any doubts, the owners were not among them.

'SLEEPNESS NIGHTS'

"There were some sleepless nights," said O'Toole, whose original vision of converting an old Page Avenue warehouse within eyeshot of the Outerbridge Crossing into a field house more commonly seen in New Jersey than New York came to fruition in May of 2007. "But we had worked so hard in the beginning, and we had turned it into such a successful business, that just quitting wouldn't have helped."

Indeed, just a few days after re-opening, nearly every time slot on Fastbreak's schedule board was filled, most by renters who have been with O'Toole, Ceciliani, and Burns since its original opening.

"They've stuck with us," O'Toole said.

"Kids were calling every day, 'Are you open yet? Are you open yet?'" Ceciliani said. "We had to cancel birthday parties, and that was terrible. Little eight-year-olds don't understand why they can't have a party."

Restoring Fastbreak was no easy feat, however. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has rejected numerous loan and grant applications. Insurance has yet to pay off. So the owners ponied up their own funds to get their business up and running again.

It reached a point where O'Toole's 26-year-old married son, Joe, offered his dad the money he planned to put down on a house. O'Toole refused, and borrowed from his uncle instead.

EVERYONE HELPED CHIP IN

Other friends and relatives helped contribute to the $150,000 tab of replacing the two floors with brand new maple hardwood. O'Toole estimated it will take two years of uninterrupted operation to recoup the re-investment.

"It's upsetting, but we knew it could be repaired," said Ceciliani, who put up several family members from storm-ravaged South Beach in her Prince's Bay home. "You think about those in South Beach and Oakwood Beach who lost their homes and lives, you realize this is really nothing. It was a shock, though."

It actually didn't start that way. For a fleeting moment, O'Toole and Ceciliani thought they might have escaped a costly repair job.

"I went in a couple of days later with a flashlight, since there was no power, and I saw a puddle here, a puddle there," O'Toole said.

What had appeared minimal damage turned into a major problem after O'Toole left Nov. 1 for a week's vacation in Aruba. Sandy's violent winds had ripped off several evacuation hatches in the roof, allowing water to drip onto the floor. At the same time, a swelled water table compromised the floor from below.

Ceciliani remained in contact with O'Toole throughout daily inspections. Not wanting to ruin his vacation, her language remained guarded. But she knew what was happening.

"I'd walk around and I could feel the water underneath," she said. "And then the floor was buckling. It was warped."

NO MOLD

By the time O'Toole returned Nov. 8, the floors were inundated. The only problem the facility escaped was mold, and that was only because it didn't get full power and heat, in which mold thrives, until late December.

That was the only consolation, however. The floors could not be spot-repaired without creating a potential safety problem.

They had to go.

Friends and family came together immediately. A work crew that included Tottenville High boys coach John Woodman, a longtime friend of O'Toole's, helped haul out the old floors section by section, their plywood bottoms and rubber cushions that create the bounce either bent or rotted. ¶

"You look at some sections and the boards are straight," O'Toole said. "You look at another and they're like hockey sticks."

In all, they filled four large dumpsters, with more on the way.

The job of laying the new under-floors went to Ceciliani's husband, Mike, a carpenter by trade.

Then came the new maple tops. But the varnishing had to be delayed until full power and heat was restored.

That didn't happen until Dec. 28, the day O'Toole took away the generators that had provided intermittent power the two previous months.

The last coat was applied Wednesday.

BACK IN ACTION

That Thursday night, 66 days and 18 hours after Sandy nearly wrecked the business, a group of college-aged regulars home on winter break brought back the squeak of sneakers, the calling out of picks, and the swoosh of swishes to Fast Break.

"It was nice," Ceciliani said. "They wanted to be the first to play on the floor."

Business has come back quickly. Ceciliani said she booked four birthday parties in one day. The regulars are coming back, and they expect new business to follow.

"The phone didn't stop last Thursday," Ceciliani said. "The Port Authority cops called and said they'd shoot in the dark, that they were just sitting around getting fat. They wanted to get back to it."Best of all, the players of Christine Dunn's Staten Island Rockets will once again have reason to wear their jerseys.

"That was heartbreaking, to make them wait," Ceciliani said. "Other teams, they could find someplace else, but not these kids. And they're so used to routine that it's hard on them when they have to break it."

"Usually, you don't know what you have until it's gone," Dunn said. "We can't wait until Friday." 